It's not what it seems
by NASCARLUCY
Summary: Aaon Hotchner's Aunt dies under mysterious circumstances. As Hotchner investigates his aunt's death along with Sheriff Opie Taylor and former Sheriff Andy Taylor, he finds out things are not always what they seem.
1. Chapter 1

Millie Adams woke up in her vehicle and it was dark outside. The next thing she knew her car went into the water. She tried to get the seat belt off but she couldn't. She tried to use her cell phone to call 911 and it was dead. She screamed for help but no one heard her. Finally she took her last breath and that was it.

Sheriff Opie Taylor got a call from Betty Miller concerned that her friend hadn't returned from a church meeting. He had looked around her house and had found nothing out of place. He went ahead and filed a missing person's report and also issued a BOLO for Millie Adams. He also made a phone call to Aaron Hotchner, her great-nephew.

Former Sheriff Andy Taylor was listening to the police scanner and had heard the news. It was about midnight when the call came in. He got into his vehicle and started driving around. He noticed that the gate to the Mount Airy Lake looked like a car had crashed through it.

The former Sheriff stayed on the phone with his son as he entered the parking lot of the boat ramp. He was concerned about his father going down there alone.

"I'm now walking down the observation deck. Oh, my God."

"Dad, what is it?"

"Opie, I think I've found Millie Adam's car and it's in the water. I can hope that she got out of the car but that is unlikely."

The back bumper of the car and the license plate was visible but just barely.

"Looks like a Lincoln Towncar but I can't read the license."

Opie arrived with a couple of minutes as did several Mt. Airy Police vehicles.

Within minutes, it was clear to everyone that Millie Adams had somehow driven her car into the lake and had drowned.


	2. Chapter 2

Aaron Hotchner arrived at the Mt. Airy Medical Examiner's Office several hours later. He looked at the body on the table and identified the person as Millie Adams. Aunt Millie that is. Sitting outside in the lobby of the Medical Examiner's office was Sheriff's Opie Taylor who was waiting to speak with Hotchner. They shook hands and then Hotchner sat down.

"I'm very sorry for you're loss, Mr. Hotchner. Do you have any questions?"

"Not right now but I probably will later. I don't understand why she would drive her car

into the lake. Doesn't make sense. I know that she's been forgetful at times but this."

Aaron Hotchner then drove over to his aunt home which was about a block from the funeral home. He wasn't surprised when he saw Betty Miller outside on her front porch.

He waved to her and then went into the house.

He looked around carefully to see if anything had been disturbed. Everything looked fine. It didn't appear that any crime had occurred in the house. Hotchner had a sense that his aunt's death was no accident but he couldn't put his finger on it.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door bell. Hotchner looked thru the peep hole and was surprised to see Lila and Spencer Reid at the door. Lila had brought some finger sandwiches.

"So sorry to hear of you're loss." Said Lila who hugged him. .

There was a brief silence. Lila frowned at Spencer.

"Oh yes, so am I Hotch."

"There is something I we need to tell you Hotch."

Before Hotchner could ask them what it was the door bell rang. It was Lola's great-grandmother, grandmother and mother with their three grandchildren. They had brought some food over.

"This is my great-grandmother Agnes Keys, my grandmother Sallie Salton and my mother LuAnn Archer."

Hotchner shook hands with the three women. The four women then went into the kitchen to put some of the food away and to make lunch for Hotchner.

""Hotchner, these are our three children, Hannah, Joshua and Nathan. Say hello to Mr. Hotchner. "said Spencer.

"Hello, Hello, Hello."

The last time Hotchner had seen the children they were infants and a toddler.

"I'm Hannah. I'm the oldest and I'm 5 years old. Joshua and Nathan are 3 years."

"Well, nice to meet you Hannah, Joshua, Nathan." Said Hotchner shaking their hands.

The doorbell rang again. The funeral director at the funeral home arrived and Hotchner went into another room to discuss funeral arrangements with the director.

While discussing the funeral arrangements Hotchner noticed from the upstairs room Betty Miller working in her garden in back. He thought it strange that she hadn't come over as everyone else in town seemed to have come over.

His aunt was a well-liked person. This was evident by all those who came over and those who called expressing their sympathy. It wasn't until well after 8:00 p.m. when they all finally left.

Hotchner was very disturbed at what Lila and Spencer had told him. He wondered if anyone else knew about this. As he was lying in bed thinking about things, it suddenly dawned on him that Betty Miller hadn't come over to the house or offered any type of condolences to him. This seemed very odd to him. He had overheard one of the ladies saying that Betty Miller wasn't a well liked person and everyone was suspicious of her and one lady said she thought she had something to do with Millie's death.

His aunt had provided a much different description of Betty Miller, a nice kind person who was concerned about her, someone that was misunderstood by others.

After the funeral, he was going to talk with the Sheriff's about these things.


	3. Chapter 3

Lila couldn't sleep and she looked at the clock. It was two a.m. It wasn't often that she and Spencer had time to themselves. She was holding unto Spencer like her life depended on it. They were on the 4th floor of her great-grandmother's house in the guest bedroom.

The house was in the older section of . From the 4th Floor one could see down the block. The house was two doors down from where Hotchner was saying. A car came down the street and stopped in front of Betty Miller's home. There was a street light and there was also a full moon which made it easier to see who was getting out of the car.

"Oh, my God, Spencer, it's him. I knew that it was him. What is he doing here?"

Spencer gave Lila some binoculars. She looked into the binoculars.

"Yep, it's him."

Lila started to tremble and shake. Then she started to cry. She buried her head in Spencer's chest and started sobbing.

"I don't think he saw us, Lila. He was driving like a manic. He had tunnel vision."

"I certainly hope you are right."

The held about 600 people. The church was filled to capacity and across the street where the high school was several hundred more were standing outside. Hotchner looked around. There were flowers all over the church. A CD had been made of various pictures throughout Millie's life.

Former Sheriff Andy Taylor or Sheriff Andy as people who knew him called him had become Sheriff by accident in 1955. At the time he was an Investigator for the Mt. Airy County Sheriff's Office and upon the untimely death of Sheriff Larry Grassley had been appointed Sheriff. At the time he was 25 years old and had a 5 year old son. He also had been recently widowed. It was supposed to be an interim job as there was an election coming up for Sheriff in 6 months. People asked him to run and he did winning the election by a landslide. He had been re-elected 7 times and had retired in 1985.

Even though he was retired, he still had his law enforcement license. At age 83, he was the oldest law enforcement official in the State of North Carolina.

Sheriff's Andy had known Millie Adams for since he was a teen-ager. Originally from Virginia she had come to live in after marrying George Adams whose family roots went back to the American Revolution. She had met him in World War II while working as an Army Nurse in Hawaii.

Sheriff's Andy fondly recalled Millie making meals for the officers who worked on holidays and other occasions. She also did a lot of volunteer work in the community for decades. As he looked around there was hardly a dry eye in the church.

His Son Sheriff's Opie Taylor or Sheriff Opie as they called him had followed in his father's footsteps but his path was much different. After graduating from School in 1968, Opie went into the army and ended up serving in Vietnam. In 1972 he left the military and moved back to North Carolina but moved to Charlotte. He joined the Charlotte Police Department and retired in 2003 after 30 years of service as the Lead Investigator. In 2004 he moved back to and ran for Sheriff which he won.

He had married twice and was currently single. He had two children from the two marriages. Both were grown, married and he was the grandfather of 3.

"I remember when I went to Vietnam, Millie would send me a card, and sometimes she would send me goodies. She was always thinking of others."

Prior to the funeral, Aaron Hotchner had expressed his concerns to both father and son. When the two men were speaking, they made it a point to look around or take notice without others noticing. One thing that they noticed was that Betty Miller wasn't at the funeral. Hotchner also took notice of this. He also noticed that at 5:00 a.m. Betty Miller drove out of her driveway to place unknown. He hadn't seen her since.

While everyone else in town was attending Millie Adam's funeral, a moving van came into Betty Miller's driveway. Things were quickly taken out. The moving van a couple of hours later drove pass the mourners at the as it headed towards Interstate I-85 virtually unnoticed. Mille Adams was being put into the ground at that point.

Sheriff Opie looked at the graves of Millie Adam's husband and son Gary who was a couple of years older than Opie. Gary had died in Vietnam in 1967. He was 21 years old and was an only child. He remembered the day that military officials came to notify Mille and her husband of their son's death. He remembered the funeral. He was one of the pallbearers. It was almost like it was yesterday in his memory. Now Millie would be joining them at their burial plot.


	4. Chapter 4

When Hotchner returned to his aunt's home after the funeral, he noticed that there weren't any curtains in the windows next door. He quickly took a look at the house and noticed that everything had been moved out of the house. If he had any doubts about Betty Miller being involved in his aunt's death, he now knew that she was involved in some way. He had no proof but he sure as heck was going to find out.

Spencer Reid had gone the back way into Millie Adam's home without being seen right after the funeral service. From the top window he watched as stuff was being moved out of the house. A camera had been installed outside which was filming what was going on next door. When the moving van went down the street, he was right behind the moving van and had gotten the license plate. He drove several miles behind the moving van and once the moving van got into I-85, he turned around and came back.

It was several hours before everyone left; in fact it was almost dark when people finally left.

Several weeks later

Aaron Hotchner and had looked over the bank statements of his late Aunt several times. He had given Sheriff Opie copies of the records. Over a period of years, Millie had withdrawn money from the Mt. Airy Bank and then deposited the money in several different banks in Charlotte. In the last year or so, the withdrawals had been substantial. The money that had been put into the banks in Charlotte was gone. The day before Millie was killed, she was seen going into banks and withdrawing the money.

Sheriff Opie watched several recordings of Millie Adams doing business at the Mt. Airy Bank and several banks in Charlotte. He watched these several times. He heard a knock on the door in his office and said "Come in."

Sheriff Andy had been in Charlotte most of the day with an investigator in the Fraud Unit of the Charlotte Police Department.

"Unfortunately Opie, we came up with nothing. The videos we watched showed Millie going into the bank or using the ATM to withdraw funds or to put funds into her accounts. There is no one with her and people that we spoke with at the bank said that Millie always came in by herself. Unless we get more evidence linking Betty Miller to this, there isn't anything we can do legally."

Both men were frustrated knowing that they could do nothing. Hotchner had later reported to them that some of his aunt's jewelry was missing as well as some other family heirlooms. Since so many people had been in and out of the house, they couldn't prove that Betty Miller took them, even though they suspected she did.

The license plate that Reid had written down turned out to be bogus and the name of the moving company on the truck was one that had shut down years ago.

It looked like Betty Miller was going to get away with theft, fraud, and murder. Sheriff Opie then got on the phone and called Hotchner. They talked briefly and then Opie hung up the phone.

"Dad, did you anything which would link Tom Boils to this case?"

"The car was going at a high rate of speed on Grassley Ave when it crashed thru the gate and then later hit the water. Lila told me that she and Spencer were coming home from a movie when this car nearly t-boned them when they were at the intersection of Grassley Ave and Mt. Airy Lake Drive. Mt. Airy Lake Drive you are supposed to stop. At Grassley Ave, there is no stop. She told me that she saw a man driving, Tom Boils and that she didn't see Millie Adams in the car. "

"Oh yes, doesn't everyone remember Tom Boils. Nothing but trouble in Charlotte. Want bee NASCAR driver who's never been able to get a ride. Hangs out with the NASCAR people. Don't know why they seem to like him. He's bad news."


	5. Chapter 5

"It's okay, Hannah, Joshua, Nathan. Mommy just had a bad dream. " Said Spencer to the kids.

The kids were standing in the bedroom looking their mother.

"I'm okay. Mommy just had a bad dream. "said Lila gathering up her kids and sending them back to their rooms.

In the past two weeks, Lila had woken up screaming 3 times from nightmares that she'd had about Tom Boils. When the kids left, she started sobbing.

"What you are experiences Lila is PTS. Many people….

Lila tuned Spencer out. She knew that she needed to get a handle on this. It had been a long time since she'd had nightmares about the rape. Lila was 18 years old when she was raped by Tom Boils at a party that had been held during the Memorial Day weekend races in Charlotte. She remembered it like it was yesterday.

Race car driver Markus Welts had a house which was in downtown Charlotte. He had a party a couple of hours after the race had ended. Lila had come to the party with Tom Boils whom she had met at the race track.

The music was blasting loudly and the song Welcome to the Jungle was playing. Lila was throwing onto the bed. When she tried to get away she was slapped across the face and punched in the stomach.

Lila screamed out in pain and started crying. Tom Boils seemed to be delighted that she was in pain. Then he started to beat and choke her. Lila passed out. When she woke up Markus Welts was on top of her. He laughed as she begged for mercy. She again passed out. The next thing she remembered was waking up and she was being taken to the hospital. She didn't realize how seriously injured she was.

At the hospital, Lila had to be sedated to get evidence from her body.

"I'm sorry Spencer, I was deep in thought.." said Lila going back to the present.

Even though Lila said she saw Tom Boils in the vehicle, Sheriff Opie couldn't prove that he was in . He had been barred from the town after he and Markus came into town and went directly to Lila's house and threatened her and her mother if they testified in court. Both men were arrested on the spot.

The two men were convicted in for Witness Tampering and Making Threats. The jury had no sympathy for the two men and the judge gave them the maximum amount.

The jury in Charlotte ended up being a hung jury. The prosecutor decided not to re-file charges and that was the end of that case. After the trial the two men were put on trial in and were convicted on the Witness Tampering and Making Threats.. The jury had no sympathy for either man. They had tried to get the case moved to Charlotte but the judge refused. The judge had sentenced both men to the maximum but this was later overturned by an appeals court.

Markus Welts conviction was an embarrassment to the NASCAR community which promoted family values. His sponsors dropped him and shortly thereafter Markus committed suicide at the Charlotte Jail where he was awaiting transmit to the Carolina Correctional Institute which was an hour outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. Tom Boils never spent another day in jail as Lila didn't want to go through testifying again.

"This isn't fair. We agreed that we would split the money in half." Said Tom Boils to Betty Miller.

The two were in his apartment in downtown Charlotte. Betty Miller had no intention of splitting the money. She needed to get rid of Tom Boils and had planned to do so for several months. Now was her opportunity. . She took out her handgun which had a silencer on it and shot him three times in the stomach. She made sure that he was dead by shooting him twice in the head and turned the air conditioner on in the apartment.. Then she left the apartment with a 96 gallon trash can which held the money. She wheeled it out of the apartment. She didn't realize the silencer didn't work too well and someone had called the police.

When she got in the elevator people thought it was strange that she had this trash can. She got off the elevator and then got into a moving truck which had been parked illegally. She took the ticket which was on the windshield and ripped it into pieces. Then she drove off.

Sheriff Opie had been checking the data base of the pawn shops in North Carolina to see if anyone had tried to pawn the jewelry. No such luck. The phone rang. It was his dad who had gone to Charlotte to see if he could question Tom Boils. Before he got there, the street was blocked off and he was told someone had been murdered. He wasn't surprised when he later found out who he was. He quickly called his son to tell him on the news.

A couple of hours later

A news reporter was standing in front of the apartment complex where Tom Boils lived.

"Residents of the apartment complex said that Mr. Boils was arguing with an unknown woman when they heard muffled sounds of what appeared to be gunfire."

Hotchner just happened to be in Charlotte and heard about this on the news.

Betty Miller traveled south and stopped at a rest area outside Charlotte on I-77. She took the license plate off and put another license plate on the moving truck. She then left a note which said, 'Catch me if you can."

She left a map which detailed her escape to Tennessee.


	6. Chapter 6

Betty Miller knew that driving back to Mt Airy was risky but she couldn't resist rubbing it in that she had gotten away with murder. Actually she'd gotten away with several murders. She didn't really think that they would believe that she was going to NashvilleTennessee. This was a diversion which they probably would see right through. She arrived in around 7:00 p.m. The downtown area was practically deserted when she drove through it. A lot of older people lived in the downtown area and didn't venture out much after that. The Mt. AiryPark stayed open till sunset. In about an hour the sun would be going down. She calmly parked the vehicle. She had put the money into a large suitcase and left the trash can in the truck. She walked to a rental car which had been parked in the parking lot a couple of blocks away and quickly left.

She had planned this out very carefully and everything had gone the way she wanted it to. She had cut her very long hair with a knife and had gotten some hair coloring at a CVS paying in cash. She wore large sunglasses. She had used the bathroom sink at the rest area in Charlotte to put the hair coloring on.

Hotchner and several FBI agents were at the Charlotte Amtrak Station waiting to see if Betty Miller was going to show up. She had purchased an Amtrak Ticket from Charlotte to Boston. The train was supposed to leave at 7:30 p.m.

Hotchner and Reid were sitting in a car nearby. JJ and Will were sitting in the station pretending to be among those who would be boarding the train.. Morgan was dressed as an Amtrak Employee going through the luggage.

Rossi was at the Charlotte Airport with some other FBI agents. In doing an investigation on Betty Miller credit card, it was discovered that not only had she bought a train ticket, she had also bought a plane ticket from Charlotte to Boston and had also bought a Greyhound Bus Ticket for the same designation. Garcia and Kevin were at the Greyhound Station.

Hotchner had notified the FBI office in Nashville to be on the lookout for Betty Miller.

Sheriff Opie was doubtful that Betty Miller would show up at any of these places. She wouldn't be that stupid. Hotchner had kept in contact with him throughout the day of what was going on. He was currently at the local Wal-Mart where someone had called in a bomb threat. A threat which turned out to be a hoax.

Across the street at Target Betty Miller was sitting across the street in her vehicle laughing. It was now realized that the bomb threat was a hoax. She heard on the police scanner that the moving truck had been found at the park. She saw several police cars that had responded to the bomb threat fly out of the parking lot their sirens blaring. Betty waited till the police drove by. She then made a left turn and then drove a couple of miles were she got unto I-85. She managed to get through before the police started pulling cars over. She took some back roads and drove several hours before she finally reached I-95 near Brunswick, GA. She abandoned the vehicle leaving the keys in it, her cell phone and her driver's license about 20 miles away Brunswick at a Wal-Mart. She called for a taxi which took her to the Amtrak Station. She then boarded an Amtrak train headed for Jacksonville with a new identity and look and cell phone.

The Greyhound bus arrived at the Daytona Beach Station around 11:30 a.m. the following day. Betty Miller AKA:Elizabeth Knowles called a taxi which took her to the Ponce Inlet Restaurant Down by the Inlet.

Down by the Inlet was right on the Inlet. It was a popular seafood restaurant with both tourists and locals alike. It had been several years since she had dined at this restaurant.

She chatted briefly with the waitress telling her that she'd come into the Daytona InternationalAirport to see her sister who was dying of cancer. One thing she was good at was lying. She'd been a liar most of her life and she was good at it, fooling everyone.

This was how she survived.

Spencer Reid got the complete history on the life of Betty Miller AKA (Brown, Jones and Joylin) and had given this to Sheriff Opie who was reading it to his dad..

"She was born on April 12, 1940 in WashingtonD.C..To Elizabeth and William Joylin. When she was two years old, her parents died in a car crash and since there was no family who would take her, she became a ward of the state and lived at the Arlington Children's Home in Arlington, Virginia. When she was 14 years old, she had run away from the home."

Sheriff Opie paused for a second, and then went on.

"In 1955 Betty Joylin was found to be in company of William Burns who was responsible for the death of Sheriff Grassley. Oh, my God, I can not believe this."

Sheriff Andy dropped the papers he was holding. He was in shock. He remembered the day that Sheriff Grassley died. Williams Burns had been speeding and Sheriff Grassley was in pursuit. Both were going at very high rates of speed. Then without warning, William Burns turned the vehicle around and headed towards the Sheriff. He ran off the road and the car flipped several times. Then he turned the car around and took off.

He was later captured in another county and Betty Joylin was his passenger. William Burns was put to death in 1956.

"That month was one of the worst in my life. I broke my arm on April 1st, you're mother died after routine surgery from unexpected complications on April 15th and then Sheriff Grassley died on April 30th.

Even though Sheriff Opie was 5 years old, he remembered his mother's funeral very vividly. Aunt Bee who lived in West Virginia had come to the funeral and was there taking care of him. Then two weeks later he was attending Sheriff Grassley's funeral.

"The home didn't want her back so she was sent to a reform school and was supposed to get out when she was 21 years old.. She escaped from the school a couple of weeks after being taken to the hospital for stomach problems which in turns out she didn't have. She got married when she was 18 years old to a John Brown who died 2 years later of a heart attack. He was only 27 years old and it was suspicious but no one could prove anything. Betty received $20,000 from his insurance policy. She married a Timothy Jones a couple of years later and he died in a boating accident after one year of marriage. She got $35,000 from insurance. She didn't marriage again until 1973 when she married Winston Miller who had no children. She was married to him for about 20 years and then in 1993 while they were on vacation in the Keys, he had a heart attack and died. She collected $100,000.00 on three insurance policies." said Sheriff Opie.

"As I recall Opie, the rumor mill was that Betty was responsible for his death but at the time I didn't believe it. I knew Winston for years. He was a heavy smoker and he had medical problems relating to his years of smoking. He also had heart problems and had had 3 surgeries on his heart and secondly the insurance policies were written 10 years before he died."

"All these deaths occurred on vacations which is interesting. From what I've learned about her she doesn't act on impulse. She thinks things through before she acts. I wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't plotted all these things for months or years."

"How did she meet up with Tom Boils? Does it say in the report."

Opie turned several pages before getting to the story of Tom Boils.

"Born August 15, 1975 and put into foster care after birth.. Mother was an inmate at the Virginia State Women's Correctional Facility who had murdered his father after the two of them got drunk and started fighting with each other. Mother later died in prison after another inmate stabbed her in the shower. For some reason he was never adopted and lived in a series of foster homes before going to live at the Arlington Children's home at age 12. Has a long length juvenile record but never spent time in jail while a juvenile. When he was 16 he was adjudicated an adult and came to Charlotte. I arrested him for stealing cars. From stealing and dealing in stolen property, he did burglaries. Can't tell you how many times he was arrested for that. As he got older, his crimes became worse. Sexual assault and rape. Lila wasn't his first victim. She was the only one who had been brave enough to testify against him (the others had been too scared)."

"How did he end up befriending Betty Miller?"

"That I'm not sure. Doesn't really say here when they met up. In fact Spencer Reid said there is no record of them meeting up with each other. The only thing that I can think of is when Tom Boils and Markus Welts came to town to threaten Lila but I don't recall her bonding him out of jail. I don't know."


	7. Chapter 7

Lila had read the report that Spencer had left on the table when he had rushed off to Charlotte.. He always liked to carry two copies but only had one copy. They were supposed to have left a week earlier but since Hotchner was doing an investigation, Lila had stayed in . What she read surprised her but after thinking about it, it wasn't a surprise at all.. None of her grandmothers liked Betty Miller. Her great-grandmother thought she was a phony and a liar. This sentiment was shared by nearly all the women in the community. Except for Millie Adams.

Spencer had returned back to unexpectedly at 11:30 p.m. The kids were at the grandparent's home, so it was the first in a while since they were alone.

"No one could understand why Winston Miller married Betty?"

"Well, you told me Lila that he met her at a business management seminar."

"That's true. She had no money and he paid for her to attend the seminar. I tell you Spencer the man was a saint. He truly was. Would help anyone even those who didn't deserve it."

"Well, Betty Miller is the classic Black Widow. She's …

Lila put up her hand. "Okay Spencer, I get it. Come to bed with me.."

A couple of hours later Spencer told her that she was back to her old self.

"I know this sounds terrible but I'm glad that Tom Boils is dead. He can't hurt anyone and he got his."

A couple of months later

Elizabeth Knowles was sitting in her Ponce Inlet Beach House watching the news. Her picture had been plastered all over the TV and the News. She looked nothing like the picture that was circulating. Derrick Morgan did the press conferences instead of Hotchner to avoid the appearance that this was personal but it was.. It was never mentioned that Millie Adams was Hotchner's aunt. Elizabeth wondered if this case would have gotten national attention if it didn't involve Millie.

For now she was done with committing any more fraud. She had enough money to live out her life.

Everyone in Ponce Inlet knew her as Elizabeth Knowles whose husband had died recently and who had come from North Carolina. She lied to them telling them that her first husband and brother had died in Vietnam. She usually repeated the same lies as she learned if you change the story too much, you forget.


	8. Chapter 8

The neighborhood where Elizabeth Knowles lived was primarily rental or vacation property, so people came and went. Very few of them in the area were full-time residence which was one reason why Elizabeth chose the property. Because of this, it had been easy to keep people at a distance although they were people that she socialized with. . Elizabeth loved spending the days looking at the ocean. This was something she'd dreamed of doing all her life.

To occupy her time, Elizabeth did volunteer work at the MarineScienceCenter. She greeted the people who came into the Center and also helped clean out the bird cages and other help if needed. She was there a couple of days a week.

She worked from 10-4 on Friday and then walked home which was a very short walk. She looked out at the ocean. She decided to take a swim in the ocean and would end her life by going out too far and then drowning. A shark which was nearby swam to her and started to bit her leg. She screamed as the shark dragged her underneath the surface. The shark attacked her torso area and then left the area. Elizabeth managed to drag herself back to shore where she passed out and died shortly thereafter.

Shortly thereafter a bad storm came into the area. Elizabeth Knowles body was swept out to sea and in the morning the tides brought her body back to her back yard. Her body wasn't discovered for several hours.

JJ and Will had rented the house next to Elizabeth Knowles. They had brought their two children. It was much needed rest. For the last six months Betty Miller had occupied a good portion of the BAU time and energy. They didn't notice her body when they went outside to get some fresh air. It was after their Black Lab kept barking and barking and wouldn't come back to the house that Will went to investigate that he found the body. He happened to see the tattoo of "In Memory of Winston" on her left arm.

He called 911 and then JJ called Hotchner.

"We found her."


	9. Chapter 9

A couple of days later Press Conference in Ponce Inlet

This wasn't how Hotchner or Sheriff Opie or Andy wanted it to end. They had wanted to have her captured and then put on trial for the murder of Millie Adams. At a press conference Derrick Morgan told the story. Hotchner stood in the background as did the BAU members. Sheriff Opie stood beside Morgan and his dad stood in the background.

"A diary was found in her home which detailed her nearly 55 years of crimes. Most of the crimes were insurance fraud or fraud against persons. She ran before she could be apprehended. Some of these cases resulted in the suspicious death of a person, who usually was on vacation. By the time it was figured out what was happening or what was going on, Betty had left."

Morgan paused and drank a sip of water. He continued.

"She often would find an elderly person who had money but who had no children or close family ties. She would gain this person's trust and then would have them go to the bank and take out sums of money. It was little by little which didn't get a lot of attention. She would then take the money and deposit it into a bank under a phony name. Once she had what she needed or wanted, she would usually leave but in at least 10 cases, she was suspected of killing the victim and then making it look like it was either an accident or due to illness. She would empty out her bank account and leave town.

Looking at Sheriff Opie, Morgan turned over the press conference to him.

"We confirmed Betty Miller's identify through fingerprints and dental records. We now know that she was responsible for the deaths of her 3 husbands. She killed her husbands for the insurance but was careful to cover her tracks. Between killing her husbands and exploiting elderly persons, she made off with a lot of money. She also lied to people in the community. Many people saw thru this except for Millie Adams. Millie Adams was a person who didn't have an enemy in the world. No one could believe that someone would do this or hire someone to do this but Betty got Tom Boils after she had drugged Millie to put her into the car and then put the seatbelt on so that she couldn't escape which this is what Tom Boils did. Tom Boils from his numerous burglaries had learned how to drive a car into the water and get out. This is what he did. When he saw Millie waking up, he pushed the car from the dock into the water. Millie tried to call 911 as the car sank into the water. There was evidence of her struggling to get out knowing that no one was there to help her."

Sheriff Opie went up to the stand and continued on as Sheriff Opie's voice was starting to shake and he knew if he kept on, he would break down.

"Millie Adams was the type of person that would help anyone, even those who were bad or evil. She always saw the good in everyone, even those who were bad people. She befriended Betty Miller, not knowing how evil this woman really was. Few people really knew although many people didn't trust Betty Miller. When I heard over the police scanner that Millie Adams was missing, I went out to look for her. I was nearly ran off the road by Tom Boils who after making sure that Millie was dead and calling Betty to confirm this got into his car that was parked at the lake and nearly ran into me. Before I could get back on the road, he was gone. I was the one who found Millie in her vehicle. I hoped that she had gotten out but I knew she hadn't. Shortly after Millie died, Betty Miller fled . She murdered Tom Boils because she was greedy and wanted all the money.

It was time for Hotchner to speak. At first he was reluctant to do so due to criticism of the Congress for his involving the BAU in this matter. As he thought about it, he felt he needed to speak.

"Millie Adams was my great-aunt. She was murdered by two people who did so for greed. This case though, went beyond my aunt. I've taken a lot of heat from the Congress and others for pursuing this case but I feel that it was justified as evident by what Betty Miller has done over the past 55 years or more. My aunt was loved in the community of . No one had a bad word to say about her. I couldn't imagine who would want to harm or murder my aunt. She wasn't involved in criminal activity or anything that would put her at high risk. The behavior of Betty Miller after my aunt's death was very suspicious. She never came over to express her sympathy nor did she attend the funeral of my aunt. This is very usual for someone whose you're best friend. While a lot of people in town were attending Millie's funeral, Betty was helping herself to my Aunt's jewelry and other family heirlooms. She mentioned this in her diary. She was also leaving town with no intent to return."

Hotchner paused for a second, and then continued.

I will wrap this up but she hired Tom Boils to do the murder and she said she would pay him. She had no intention of doing so, and had planned to kill him and leave town with the money, which she did. She didn't victimize anyone else as far as theft goes but she continued her lies. She lied to the people of Ponce Inlet by saying that her first husband and brother died in Vietnam. She lied to Aunt Millie and other in MountAiry saying that her son died from heart problems. She had no son. Her lies are too numerous to mention.

Finally after all these years, she couldn't live with what she did and she intended to commit suicide by drowning in the ocean. A shark got to her before she could drown herself."

The news conference was then opened to questions about the case.

"How did Betty Miller meet Tom Boils?"

"From what we can determine, he met her in while he was on trial for Witness Tampering." responded Sheriff Opie.

Sheriff Opie refused to comment when one reporter asked if Actress Lila Archer was raped by Tom Boils. .

The news conference then took on a life of its own. Lila came up to the podium. She had been in the crowd. She had large sunglasses and a hat on. People didn't recognize her. She took her sunglasses and hat off so everyone could see her.

"I think I need to address this."


	10. Chapter 10

Sheriff Opie then gave Lila the floor. She walked up to the podium and faced the crowd of reporters and curious onlookers.

"I don't need to introduce myself, as most people know who I am. When I was 18 years old, I was raped by Tom Boils. I met him at the race track during the Memorial Day races in Charlotte. I went to a party with him. He later raped me. I thought I was going to die. I was beaten and choked to the point where I passed out. When I woke up, former race car driver Markus Welts was on top of me, raped me and beat me senseless. I was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. I had two black eyes, a broken jaw and some broken bones in my cheek bone. I also had bruises all over my body, including cigarette burns. I broke a couple of ribs as well. It took me a couple of months to physically recover from the injuries but the emotional and mental wounds took a lot longer.

I was lucky that I had a support system which was what kept my sanity. The town support was also helpful when these two came to town and threatened me and my mom. Sadly I didn't get the same support in Charlotte where a hung jury wouldn't convict even though people on the jury said that they believed that I was raped and assaulted but they couldn't convict Tom Boils or Markus Welts. They wouldn't even look at me in the court room. I knew at that point that there was no conviction. This never made sense to me.

I also would like address some things which were said about me by a couple of Congressmen and Senators. First of all these individuals know nothing about rape unless they have experienced it themselves. It's very easy for someone to say how they think you should act and feel. Because rape is a different for every victim, their reaction to what happened to them is different. Some individuals are crying and hysterical. Others are quiet. This is the same reaction when they have a rape kit done. The experience is horrible and traumatic regardless of one's sexual history or experiences. Women who have experienced this have had their relationship broken and their marriages ended over this. This is just the rape itself which caused this. "

Lila remembered when they had to sedate her when they did the rape examination. She was shaking and trembling and tears came down her cheeks. As she was talking about this, a tear came down both her cheeks.

"My talent in acting is what helped me. It was like therapy to me. When I went off to college at the North Carolina College of Arts to study I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. It was a toss up between being a dancer and being an actress. During my four years there I often and still play characters who were victims of violence. I played the roles very well because I knew their experiences. I've won an Oscar and Golden Globe Award for playing the role of a holocaust survivor who was repeatedly raped and beaten by her captors. I will end my comments by saying these incidences shouldn't have been made into a political or social issue.

The onlookers clapped after Lila left the podium.

Two years later the story was made into a movie with Lila playing herself. She received numerous awards for her performance.

The end


End file.
